Housing Market Facts

The National Association of REALTORS® has launched a new site http://www.housingmarketfacts.com/. This site helps to bring perspective to the housing market. Historically the housing market has had its ups and downs but in the long term home ownership can be very worthwhile. Here a few facts from the site:

Over the past 30 years home values have risen an average of 6% annually.

60% of the average home owners wealth comes from their home equity.

For buyers who qualify for conventional financing, mortgages are available at near historically low rates. You can click to see a chart of monthly rates over a number of years. The average rate in 2007 was 6.34. The average rate in 1990 was 10.13. The highest rate listed was 16.63% for 1981 – ouch!